


august 8

by orphan_account



Category: Kuroko no Basuke | Kuroko's Basketball
Genre: Birthday Cake, Friendship, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-09-22
Updated: 2013-09-22
Packaged: 2017-12-27 07:00:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,499
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/975842
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Taiga spends part of his summer break in L.A. (Written for the prompt, “Himuro and Kagami bake a cake for Alex.”)</p>
            </blockquote>





	august 8

**Author's Note:**

  * For [pcturtl](https://archiveofourown.org/users/pcturtl/gifts).



Summer in Los Angeles feels like a whole different world from summer in Tokyo, but maybe it's just because he spent ten hours inside a heavily airconditioned airplane. Last year it was the same thing, and it's hard to believe that it has been really one whole year since then. However, this time, Tatsuya is waiting for him.

“Taiga,” he's greeted with a contained smile and his own is much brighter, but it feels like home nevertheless. “You don't look tired at all. How was the flight?”

They shake hands, and Taiga grins with a kind of happiness that only comes from being around your best friend. “Boring, like always. I'm more worried about your driving,” he provokes, but Tatsuya is probably the only teenager he'd trust with a car.

“I hope you have enough money for a cab, then,” they start walking and Tatsuya punches him lightly in the shoulder. “You didn't you tell Alex that you were arriving today?”

“Yeah, but she just messaged me saying that she's going to be busy with the kids. Because of summer,” Taiga adds, removing his headphones from around his neck.

“Maybe now we're too old for her.”

“I hope so,” and Tatsuya agrees with laughter.

When they reach the parking lot, Taiga doesn't need help to place his baggage in the car. He's going to be here for a week or two at best, just enough time to see his family and his adopted family.

Tatsuya and him talk about music, about how they still like the same bands. And food – Taiga probably misses the food the most, even though he grew up surrounded by japanese dishes. Tatsuya talks about what the last year of high school feels like, invites him to attend UCLA. Then they talk about the Lakers, because everything always comes down to basketball. Right now, all he thinks about is Seirin's second Winter Cup.

Then they're getting close to the neighborhood they grew up in, and Taiga has some flashbacks of them as little kids. Taiga's so glad they're friends again that he almost speaks it out loud. Tatsuya mentions how they'd always ride their bikes around the park, and that one time Taiga got into a fist fight for the first time and Tatsuya had to help him out. And it's embarrassing, so he changes the subject, pointing out how things changed and how many new buildings he can spot.

His house remains the same as he remembers it from a year ago. And well, Tatsuya is an amazing driver.

“Thanks for picking me up, bro,” he knows nobody's home because it's three in the afternoon and his parents left him a few post-it notes to welcome him home. He had already called them earlier to say the flight had gone well, but seeing these makes him want to call again, tell them he's hanging out with Tatsuya and that there's not enough food in the fridge. There's never enough food, but it's comforting to be able to read english and not struggle with the japanese characters.

Overall, the place felt somewhat alien to him. It wasn't his home anymore, but just a space that he knew his parents shared with each other. Maybe he'll feel better if he goes to his room.

“The last time I came here was probably years ago,” Tatsuya says with polite curiosity, watching as Taiga goes through everything in his bedroom.

“Does it feel smaller than it did before? You know, I had that feeling when I visited my old home in Japan, before my dad sold it and bought my current apartment,” Taiga yawns. “Also, we used to spend a lot of time outside. We barely visited each other.”

“Yeah, that's exactly the impression I was having,” he laughs.

Taiga has pictures of them in the wall, over a neatly organized desk that he knows Tatsuya is sure he never used to study. It's especially awkward because they weren't friends anymore back then, but there are also pictures of kids that grew up with them, some being his classmates and some being Tatsuya's. So nostalgic.

He yawns again.

“You look tired, maybe I should leave.”

“No! I mean, unless you want to,” Taiga is incorrigible. “Alex's birthday is tomorrow, we could think of something for her. We, uh. It's been years since we last did something together, all three of us.”

“That's actually a good idea,” he says with a shocked expression that reminds Taiga of the first time Tatsuya considered one of his ideas to be potentially good. “But today is August 6.”

“Oh,” Taiga scratches his head. “Timezones.”

“Yeah.”

They go back downstairs, and Tatsuya has no problem making himself at home, and that's one of the reasons why Taiga has always admired him. He cooks grilled cheese sandwichs for them and they talk about Seirin, about how Tatsuya left Yosen behind because it was just a quick exchange students program. And how Tatsuya kind of regretted not staying in Japan and therefore not playing against any of the Generation of Miracles, but soon Taiga complains that he's still hungry and they can't have any more serious conversations after that.

So he asks Taiga for a one-on-one and they play until it's dark in the closest court, and he can hear Taiga's stomach growling despite how loud and enthusiastic Taiga's voice sounds when they're done.

“You haven't changed at all,” Tatsuya says when they're waiting in line for their orders.

“What can I say, fast food is cheaper here.”

“That's not it,” he laughs. Taiga doesn't get it, but he can see that Tatsuya's attention is caught by the pretty desserts displayed in the posters. “Have you ever tried baking a cake, Taiga?”

“Once, a carrot cake,” he stuffs his mouth with french fries a moment later, and classically speaks again after swallowing only half of it. “Why?”

“We should try making one for Alex's birthday,” Tatsuya is counting something on his fingers once they sit down to eat. “I probably have most of the ingredients at my apartment, though it depends on which recipe we're going to use.”

“That's a great idea! Wow, I can already imagine her surprise,” Taiga resumes eating.

Any overly sweet icing is a must have, but that's pretty much the only thing they have decided. And Taiga finishes eating faster than he could predict, and soon they're heading back.

Next day, it's afternoon when Taiga arrives at Tatsuya's home. They're still in the same neighborhood, and the littlle walk until he arrives feels so nostalgic that he catches himself remembering the past yet again. The past that he didn't lose after all, the past that now became his present as well.

Tatsuya calls her phone and Alex sounds so excited about the surprise they have for her that even Taiga can't help but smile. “I'm just so happy that my favorite students are friends again,” she says. “Things weren't easy, but everything just fell into its right place,” really, when they asked her to be their teacher, she didn't seem like such an overly enthusiastic person. Not at all. She seemed terrifying back then.

Everything is settled now, and it's time to start working.

The cake mixes are the easiest part to make because it's just about reading instructions. However, waiting for it to properly bake and then cool down was quite a challenge – as in, Tatsuya had videogames that Taiga doesn't remember ever seeing or playing at all and of course he loses horribly. He tells Tatsuya about that one time he made the mistake of challenging Kuroko at a video arcade and he couldn't win at any of the games they played.

And Tatsuya tells stories about his high school here, and Taiga doesn't mind listening, not at all. Or about how Yosen's coach always carries around a wooden sword, and Taiga replies with how he thought Riko was scary with a paper fan.

Taiga has no problem cooking the buttercream for the filling while Tatsuya takes care of the icing. The kitchen sort of smells of vanilla and coconut, and it's so nice because they can just not talk and enjoy something that both of them can do together.

The next day, Alex kisses their cheeks and hugs each of them so tight that they feel like they're going to suffocate. Taiga momentarily wonders if this is what people think about when they say that friendships are like family, because really, at this point he's sure he spent more of his energy with these people than with anyone else. And it's okay, because time or conflicts can't change any of that past.

“Here, let's take a picture,” she pulls out her cellphone. Taiga kisses one of her cheeks, while Tatsuya kisses the other.

Taiga makes sure to remember to visit L.A. more often, especially during summer. His own birthday wasn't much longer ago, so he feels like this was also a great birthday gift for himself.

**Author's Note:**

> this was so short but i really hope it somehow made you happy, pcturtl! (i hope i didn't ruin such a great prompt but i guess i did since there isn't much about them actually baking here...)


End file.
